Chapter Four: Diagon Alley

Over the following week, Harry Potter surprisingly blended in very well with the family. Ginny was alone in getting nervous and flustered around such a famous person. If Celestina Warbeck were living with the Weasleys maybe it would be a different story. Her brothers and dad would fall over themselves trying to be helpful around her and their mum would probably be all in a dither during her entire stay as she was Molly’s favorite singer. However, where Harry Potter was concerned, her mum treated him almost similar to the orphan Abellios when Ginny first brought him home and seemed just as determined to show him wizard family life until he could be on his own.

Her mum insisted on feeding Harry Potter extra helpings of everything which he gladly took, she magically mended all of his clothing after he unpacked and brought his laundry down with Ron’s the day after arriving. Ginny spent many evenings after dinner with her mum learning how to tear the Muggle clothing apart at their seams and cutting them down to a more appropriate size for Harry Potter.

Molly was more amazing at looking at a person and tailoring their clothes than she even was at cutting hair. She merely glanced at Harry Potter whenever he sat and finished his summer essays with Ron in the kitchen and made new seams so his Muggle clothes would fit him better. Ginny supposed it was all the practice she had had with her brothers over the years. Her mum did comment once though that she had to take some extra care because Harry was thin like Percy but short like the twins and had to combine techniques she used to only use separately when redesigning his clothes.

One of those evenings Ginny was working with a Muggle seam ripper on one of Harry Potter’s old jumpers while her mum worked with her wand on a piece of one of his blue t-shirts. Molly firmly believed that Charm magic was much stronger if you could very clearly see what the magic was supposed to be doing and that by doing it by hand first helped with understanding the physical concepts. This was why Ginny worked with the Muggle tool.

It occurred to her that it wasn’t just some of Harry Potter’s Muggle clothes that were too big for him, looking at his pile, she noticed ALL of his clothes were several sizes too large. Pausing, Ginny turned to Molly, “Mum, if Harry Potter’s parents died when he was a baby, isn’t he an only child? Why do none of his clothes fit him?”

Molly turned to her daughter and smiled when she said, “You have more in common with Harry than you think dear, nearly all of his clothes are hand-me-downs, just like most of yours and all of Ron’s are. Harry’s cousin is considerably bigger than he is and gives his clothes to him when he no longer wants them, or so I’m told.” She paused before she added, “Harry never had his own clothes before going to Diagon Alley and buying a set of brand new school robes last year.”

Ginny looked over at Harry Potter sitting with her brother in the kitchen, he had a Nimbus 2000, a beautiful rare Snowy Owl, school robes tailored just for him when purchased, and glossy new text books. Hearing that Harry Potter had to wear hand-me-down clothes his whole life prior to going to school at Hogwarts, was the first time Ginny found him relatable.

“Why didn’t his aunt fix the clothes so that they fit him better?” she asked.

Molly didn’t answer right away, she kept right on manipulating the thread into a strong overlocking plain seam pattern to connect the two new pieces she’d finished cutting before finally saying, “Not everyone is capable of mothering other people’s children. That doesn’t make them a bad mother, just a very protective one. It probably wasn’t a priority. As long as Harry had clothes that’s all that really matters.”

Ginny thought about Luna’s hair, and the extra time her mum put into Harry Potter’s Weasley sweater she made him last year. She smirked to herself when she thought that if Ron were sitting here with them he would ask what about mothers who mother other people’s children better than her own?

“How do you always know the answers to my questions, Mum? Especially about Harry Potter?” Ginny asked, puzzled as to how her mother knew so much about him already.

“Your brothers don’t go to bed as early nor as easily as you do. They don’t need to be outside anymore after dark so if they want to stay up I make them stay in the living room or kitchen with me while I butt into their lives asking tons of questions,” she laughed. “When they get annoyed or tired of answering they go to bed.” Glancing at Harry her mum said quietly, “I think, he wanted us to know that he didn’t do the charm that gave him his warning from the Ministry, that he doesn’t try to do things to get into trouble but it seems his Muggle family tends to blame him for everything. Whether or not it’s his fault. His first couple of nights here Harry spilled quite a bit of his home life after your father left for work and stopped interrupting with his Muggle bumbling.” Picking up on her mother’s protective instincts Ginny began to understand Ron’s concern for him all summer long not answering his letters.

Ginny’s dad was entertaining at dinner times before leaving for work. He asked Harry Potter all sorts of questions about Muggles and Muggle life. Ginny could barely follow what her father was saying most of the time and was pleased when even Harry Potter didn’t know the answer sometimes. When her father asked about plumbing without spells Harry Potter’s amusing but somewhat serious response was simply the word, “Science?”

Her father laughed so hard, “Science! That’s a good one! I gotta use that next time someone asks me questions like this at work!”

The perplexed look on Harry Potter’s face told Ginny that he didn’t understand how her dad found that as a hysterical joke but continued, “Hermione could probably explain it.” Ron nodded in agreement.

About a week after her brothers brought him home Ginny was finally getting around to thinking about the famous Harry Potter she had learned about growing up as simply Harry, one of her brother’s friends. When she spoke to her mother or father about him she was comfortable just calling him Harry now, and didn’t stare in wonder when he did ordinary things like help in the garden or set the table anymore.

Normal as she could be now when he wasn’t right in front of her, she still had problems being in the same room with him though, and often was so nervous she dropped things, blushed quite a bit whenever the attention was on her, bumped into things she normally never did before, forgot what she was doing in the moment, and worst of all couldn’t manage to speak in front of him for fear of saying something that made her sound ridiculous.

It was especially embarrassing when her birthday finally rolled around and world famous Harry Potter attended her family birthday feast. Her mum always said August was the most fun and at the same time saddest month because there were two birthday celebrations and also the last night of holidays when the family threw parties. They didn’t buy gifts to give in the Weasley family, instead they made or did things for each other.

Percy left his bedroom, abandoned his secret letters, and sat with Ginny all morning answering questions she had about Hogwarts, classes, things she found interesting in Ron’s text books, and anything she could think of about school. Ron and Harry took her outside and played Quidditch with her. They let her take one of the twins’ brooms and Ron stayed on his Shooting Star and Harry on his Nimbus. Although she practiced as much as she did with the squirrels and horses, it was nothing compared to flying with other people. Ginny had trouble watching both of them at the same time and afterwards resigned herself to training harder for her house team. Her mum spent the day preparing the dinner feast and her father just smiled and simply told her that he was working on a surprise for her at work.

Her twin brothers fired off some of their Filibuster fireworks in her favorite colors forest green, like where Abellios lived, and fiery orange-copper like the dragons in Romania. Her mum made all her favorite dishes, and Ginny didn’t have to help with any of the chores around the house. As pleased as she was for the special guest it would have been nice to be able to laugh and joke out loud with everyone without worrying about making any kind of blunder.

Ron sometimes commented how weird it was that Ginny was being this quiet lately, but nobody else noticed because they spent much less time with Harry than Ron did. The twins hung out with him when the boys went to play Quidditch together and Percy ignored him as he usually ignored everyone all summer.

One morning Ginny was peacefully eating a leisurely breakfast with both parents after her father came home from work. None of her brothers had gotten up yet. Arthur was reading the Daily Prophet and pointed out a section to her mum, “Look Molly, that Gilderoy Lockhart you go on about is having a book signing in Diagon Alley next Wednesday at Flourish and Blotts. He’s promoting his semi- new autobiography Magical Me.”

A female Little owl suddenly swooped into the owl perch through the big open window and landed with a heavy thud on one of the rail posts with a stack of envelopes tied to her leg.  Hedwig, being the only owl there, flapped and ruffled her wings in acknowledgement. Ginny was surprised, normally post owls brought the mail at the same time the Daily Prophet arrived.

“Go get the mail dear,” Ginny’s mum said to her while she read the Gilderoy Lockhart article Arthur had just pointed out.

As Ginny approached the owl it was no wonder she arrived a bit late this morning, the stack of envelopes tied to her leg was much bigger than she’d initially realized. She pulled off six letters from Hogwarts written on heavy parchment in emerald green ink.

Ginny absentmindedly reached over to pet the Little owl who surprisingly relaxed her head down and spread her wings. She really wanted to get to reading her first ever Hogwarts school list but obligingly began to scratch the owl between the shoulder blades and massage the back of her neck. Most owls her size only carry letters and this one was fairly brave to carry such a big stack alone. The bird closed her yellow eyes and her white eyebrows amused Ginny as they moved up and down while the bird was getting kneaded.

The Little owl abruptly pulled away and shook out her feathers, scattering little dust motes that had been trapped beneath them into the air before getting ready to fly again. Post owls didn’t usually stick around when delivering mail. Ginny wondered, because of the way it relaxed into her scratching, if it had been a pet before becoming a school owl.

Back at the table Ginny gave the stack of Hogwarts letters for her brothers to her dad while her mum began to compare the Lockhart article from the Daily Prophet to a calendar. Then she opened her own letter to read.

Hogwarts School

of Witchcraft and Wizardry

UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils’ clothes should carry nametags

COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)
by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners’ Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
by Phyllida Spore
Magical Draughts and Potions by ArseniusJigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
by Newt Scamander¹
Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart
Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart
Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart
Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart
Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart²

OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set of glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR
OWN BROOMSTICKS³

“Mum,” Ginny said to take Molly away from the newspaper article, “look at my school list of books I have to get.”

“Yes dear,” said her mother not looking up, “yours will be the longest as you have to get all the ones that you’ll carry for your whole time at Hogwarts.”

“No, mum, look,” said Ginny again, “half of them are by Gilderoy Lockhart!”

“What?” said Molly, taking Ginny’s list, “your new professor must be using them as the texts for your Defense Against the Darks Arts classes.” Ginny’s father leaned over to look at Ginny’s list after her mum said that and then Ginny’s parents exchanged dark looks.

“What does that mean?” asked Ginny, already thinking she knew the answer based on watching her mom scrimping and saving for Lockhart’s books when she found ones she wanted to buy for the house in the past.

“That means your brothers will probably need them all as well, and we probably won’t be able to get them second hand,” said Ginny’s dad, groaning.

“And that we might not be able to get you everything new like we talked about earlier this summer Ginny,” said her mum quietly. “We’ll know for sure after your brothers wake up and open their own letters.”

Ginny didn’t have to wait long, Harry and Ron came downstairs first. As soon as Ginny saw Harry Potter in the kitchen she put down her letter and tried to turn back to her bowl of porridge at the same time. Naturally her arms betrayed her and she knocked over her bowl somehow all the way off the table. When Ginny ducked under the table to retrieve her bowl she felt her face instantly grow hot and knew she was blushing red from embarrassment which of course made her further blush more. She took a moment to compose herself, red face and all before scooping up her bowl and its spilled contents and carefully bringing it up to set it back on the table.

Ginny could hear her father sorting through the letters looking for Harry and Ron’s all the while she was being awkward, and her Mum had been occupied with getting toast ready for the boys. Either nobody noticed Ginny’s bowl tumble to the floor or they had gotten too used to odd things happening to her when Harry Potter entered the room. Arthur had the letters sorted out to the right kids by the time Fred and George came downstairs and everyone was quiet while they read their letters for a few minutes. Ginny slowly felt the blood recede from her face while everyone was busy.

The twins caught on first that every student needed a copy of all of Lockhart’s expensive books. Molly couldn’t keep the worried look off her face when she mentioned that Ginny could get most of her requirements second hand.

“Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?” Harry asked Ginny.⁴

Feeling her face start to burn again but still trying to keep her cool at being spoken to directly by Harry Potter, Ginny tried to just nod and casually lean on the table when doing so. Unfortunately, her mother must have moved the butter dish while making the boys toast while Ginny hadn’t been paying attention because right as she stuck her elbow on the table to lean on, she felt a slippery warm sensation and realized she had stuck it right in the middle of the room temperature butter stick.

Harry Potter politely pretended he didn’t notice Ginny’s sudden mortification, and instead focused on what thankfully had distracted everyone else, Percy coming downstairs. Percy seemed to be in an annoyingly happy mood and didn’t even cry out in alarm when he nearly sat on an owl after he pulled out the last chair from around the table. He simply stood up again and passed him right over to Ron who did cry out in excitement that Errol was finally back.

“Errol!” said Ron taking the limp owl from Percy and extracting a letter from under its wing. “Finally!—He’s got Hermione’s answer. I wrote to her saying that we were going to try and rescue you from the Dursley’s,”⁵ he said to Harry. That explained Ron’s evasiveness the night before he and the twins left for Surrey, thought Ginny.

Errol must have gotten in late last night or very early this morning to have beaten the Daily Prophet delivery owl and had been asleep all this time on the chair while Ginny and her mum and dad were eating breakfast together earlier. After Ron tried to stand him up on the old perch in the kitchen by the chicken feed he was too tired and weak to stay standing and Ron unceremoniously laid him down right in the way of where Ginny and her mum would be doing dishes later.

If Harry Potter hadn’t been sitting at the table with them Ginny would have told Ron off for being too lazy to walk Errol the few feet to the new perch where he could really rest. But it didn’t seem as though Ron would have paid any attention anyway, as he began reading Hermione’s letter out loud for the family.

Hermione wanted to meet in Diagon Alley next Wednesday if the Weasleys could make it to go shopping for new school books. Ginny perked up, so far there had been no discussion on when they were going to Diagon Alley this summer as the letters all came so late. Normally they waited until the last couple of weeks before school began that way Arthur and Molly could save as much as possible before going, but the family at least usually had a plan by now.

“Well, that fits in nicely, we can go and get all your things then, too,” said⁶ Ginny’s mum.

Ginny knew that that fit in nicely because it was precisely the day Gilderoy Lockhart was going to be at Flourish and Blotts doing his book signing. She only hoped that her and her mum would have enough time to find second hand supplies that weren’t too beat up before spending the afternoon in a bookstore.

After Percy went back upstairs and the other boys outside to play Quidditch, Harry was going to let them all have a go on his Nimbus 2000, Ginny asked her mum what they needed to cut back on to be able to afford all of Lockhart’s books.

“It’s not fair,” Ginny stated. “Why would a professor do that? Assign seven expensive books that every single student has to purchase brand new because nobody used them before as text books?”

“Bill and Charlie helped out more this year than usual, we’ll manage,” said her mother repeating what she had said to the twins earlier. “We’re probably not going to be able to buy you brand new robes, and Ginny, we’re not going to be able to buy you a pet to take to school either.”

“I should be allowed to take Abellios, Mum,” said Ginny. “Ron takes Scabbers and he’s a rodent! Fred and George’s friend Lee takes a tarantula! I saw it last year when they were boarding the train. Rats and spiders aren’t on the list but they can go, why can’t I take a tame squirrel?”

“Abellios isn’t tame, Ginny. He’s wild. He was born wild, and we raised him to be able to live wild,” said her mum. “Taking him to Hogwarts, will take away his wild freedom. If Abellios didn’t want to live wild and free, he would come back to the Burrow, he wouldn’t stay in the tree grove with the other squirrels where he has to fight for food and territory.”

Ginny knew Abellios was happy in the tree grove, for a fleeting second she thought about taking him to live free on the Hogwarts grounds and then remembered what her mum said about fighting for territory. She didn’t want him to have to reestablish a home all over again at a place so large she might never see him no matter how hard she looked.

Her mum tried to distract Ginny by finishing their conversation of what they needed to cut back on, “Are you ok with getting second hand robes, dear? You know I can make them look almost brand new.”

Ginny nodded her head yes, second hand clothes were easy for her to make her own. That she was used to doing. Really, all she had looked forward to was a brand new wand and a pet of her own.

“Now, I’m going to write to some of the extended family members and see if any of them have a spare wand to pass down to you,” said Molly. “Ron seems to be getting on ok with Charlie’s old wand, I’m sure you’ll do well with one too.” This was exactly what Ginny did not want to hear, but she nodded her head, accepting the unfairness of some die-hard Lockhart fan wreaking havoc with her family’s finances.

*     *     *

When Wednesday rolled around Ginny awoke much earlier than she normally did. Her disappointments after the Hogwarts letters had come were nearly forgotten and this morning all she could think about was going to Diagon Alley. Who cares if she didn’t go into Madam Malkins and get fitted and tailored robes, her mum’s been tailoring her clothes since she was born. Ginny had never cared how new her books were going to look, as far as she had been concerned a book was a book, they had the same information in them no matter the year it was printed. Furthermore, the twins went to school without a pet (although you could make the argument that they had each other and therefore didn’t need one to take care of). Mum had written to their extended family, Great Aunt Muriel claimed that if she looked around enough she might be able to come up with a wand, but told Molly not to hold her breath.

Ginny could just imagine what Aunt Muriel thought when she’d received her mum’s letter, “Wouldn’t have to ask family for favors like this if she hadn’t married into that Weasley family that breeds like gnomes.” If she ended up with an old wand or not, Ginny was determined to have a good time while out with the family today.

She jumped out of bed and began to look for one of the Weasley sweaters her mum had made her and her purple wizard cloak that draped over a wizard’s day-wear outside. Muggle clothes just would not do in Diagon Alley. She ran downstairs where her mum was already awake frying bacon and she helped finish making the sandwiches while her mother went upstairs to wake the boys.

After everyone had finished a quick breakfast Molly set the dishes to do themselves this morning and gathered everyone around the still clean fireplace, where Harry Potter admitted that he had never traveled by Floo powder before. Molly began to fret but Fred and George showed him how easy it was and after Arthur said he would be fine she let Harry go after Ginny’s dad whipped out of sight.

Ron gave Harry a few tips and then Harry whooshed out of sight as well. Ron hurried after him, then Percy, and then Ginny and her mum went last together. Ginny wasn’t allowed to travel alone yet, her mum and dad decided that the kids weren’t allowed to be on their own when off the property of the Burrow until after their first year at school and they’d had a bit of magical training. Ron was ecstatic when he found out he, Harry, and Hermione would be allowed to wander and buy their own supplies this summer just like the twins had been able to for the past few years.

Ginny still got a little sick but knew the feeling would pass when her and her mother went through the Floo network. She did her best to keep her eyes open through the flying soot and was relieved when she saw her father and brothers on the other side before landing in the Leaky Cauldron’s hearth.

When she arrived with Molly, the Weasley boys were frantic, Harry Potter was nowhere to be found. He should’ve come out before Ron. Molly began to fret again and Arthur told the boys to stay together that way when they found Harry everyone would know at the same time.

“Harry had to come out of a wizard’s fireplace, Muggle ones aren’t connected to the Floo network normally, he probably just went one grate too far, so we’ll check Diagon Alley. Maybe Harry came out into one of the shop’s hearths,” said Arthur calmly.

The Weasleys went out the back of the Leaky Cauldron and tapped the brick to open the door to Diagon Alley. Arthur and Percy began scanning over everyone’s heads and Ron and the twins looked around for both Harry and Hermione in the sea of faces everywhere. “Hermione is looking for us too, she might find Harry first,” said Ron, “or she could help us look.”

They ran and peered into every shop, systematically eliminating where Harry definitely was not. Ron noticed Hagrid standing in front of Gringotts and Percy at first seemed exasperated, “We’re not looking for Hagrid…”

But then Arthur, taller than everyone else said, “There he is, he is with Hagrid!” The Weasley boys began to sprint to Gringotts and Ginny’s mum grabbed her hand and dragged her after them.

Ginny ran as fast as she could but it was awkward being pulled along by her mother at the same time. She could see Harry now, standing next a ginormous man and a young girl with bushy brown hair who didn’t look much older than herself. Ginny recognized her as Hermione Granger from last spring when she got off the train and walked out of Platform 9¾ with Ron and Harry. From a distance it looked as though Harry was fine, but her mother didn’t slow down until they reached the steps of the white building and she could get her hands on Harry herself.

While Ginny worked to catch her breath, her mother took out a clothes brush and began brushing soot from Harry’s cloak. She watched her dad fix Harry’s glasses and her mum thank Hagrid over and over for finding him down Knockturn Alley, of all places.

Harry told Ron and Hermione about seeing a boy all three disliked from the Malfoy family in Knockturn Alley with his father. At first Ginny’s dad wanted to know what the Malfoy’s were up to in Knockturn Alley, but changed gears when meeting Hermione’s parents. Both of Hermione’s parents were dentists in the Muggle world. Dentists were professionals at cleaning and caring for people’s teeth, a field Ginny had neither heard of before, nor wanted to think about. Wizards would brush their teeth like Muggles but on the occasion of neglect could simply take a regenerative potion or perform a spell to help with any complications.

They left Hermione and her family behind once the goblins were ready to take the Weasleys and Harry to their vaults underground. Ginny couldn’t help but think about how at ease Hermione seemed to be around Harry Potter. Like with her brothers, the idea of him being famous must have worn out its novelty quite some time ago during school last year.

She really needed to get a grip on herself she decided. Her mother was right, she needed to really act like Harry was just another one of her brothers’ friends. It was no big deal. She decided she was determined to act normal around him… and that somehow, today, she will speak… while he was within hearing distance.

Stopping at the Weasley vault, Ginny only vaguely paid attention to her mum feeling around inside of it before scooping it all into her bag and adding it to what Bill and Charlie sent weeks before. She was trying to pay attention to her brothers’ conversations so that she could add to it, and fulfill her new promise to herself to act normal. Unfortunately an opportunity never came up, as Harry’s vault was next and when the goblin opened it with Harry’s key, everyone’s eyes almost popped out of their heads.

Harry Potter was rich.

Harry Potter was not just famous, Harry Potter was the epitome of rich and famous. He tried not to show it, he tried to block what was in his vault from everyone being able to see it. But his skinny frame could not conceal the piles of gold and the mountains of silver and bronze.

He never talked about his money at the Burrow. Harry Potter would probably never have to worry about money his whole life even if he never worked after graduating from Hogwarts. He could probably leave school after his OWL’s, not take any NEWT’s to get into a real profession and still be happy for the rest of life. Ginny’s earlier courage after seeing Hermione’s apathetic attitude dwindled away. She sat quietly in the cart that took them around turns at breakneck speeds until they all made it back up to the main floor of Gringotts and met back up with the Grangers.

Outside everyone separated and Molly took Ginny to find supplies from the required list that would be easy to locate. They ghosted through a junk shop first, Molly didn’t think they would find anything remotely close to the precision instruments needed for school but said it was always worth a try. You never know what treasures you might find that other people simply threw out. All the scales they saw were lopsided, the clothes were covered in stains, books had pages hanging half way out, there was even a case filled with broken wands.

After poking around a bit Molly came across a small pewter cauldron. It wasn’t collapsible and it had a thick black mush stuck to the bottom of it. Ginny watched her mum take out her wand and glance around to look for the shopkeepers, she muttered a charm and then a spell under her breath and some of the thick mush sizzled away. Giddy with excitement Molly heaved the cauldron out from under a pile of dirty measuring instruments for potion making and again tapped the cauldron with her wand. It levitated only for a moment and then settled itself back onto the floor.

Satisfied, her mum called over the shopkeeper to help lift the cauldron to the checkout counter. Ginny wasn’t sure what her mum was up to, she knew she wouldn’t be able to haul that thing around on her own at school. Perhaps her mum planned to give her the one at home and keep this one? Probably not, the one at home was much bigger than the standard size 2 her school list called for.

The junk shop listed the dirty old cauldron at nearly half the cost of a brand new one from Potage’s Cauldron Shop. Ginny watched though, as what her mum did next was fascinating. She casually mentioned that her husband, Arthur Weasley, would be there in a few minutes to help move the cauldron after it was purchased, and she was wondering if they minded knocking down the price some? Molly was going to need to take it to a professional cleaner and then have all the old charms placed back on it after all.

The shopkeeper mentioned that by the time she did all that, it would be cheaper to go buy a new one. Ginny’s mum had an answer though, “Oh, Arthur knows someone at the Ministry who excels at re-charming these things, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. Lots of people owe him favors I’m sure it wouldn’t take him any time at all to find someone. It’s just the cleaning that will cost me later.”

By the time they finished haggling over a price, Ginny’s mum barely paid ten percent of the original cost of a cauldron from Potages. The shopkeeper knew plenty of Weasleys who visited his establishment and admitted that this particular cauldron had sat on the shelf for quite a few years in the back because he didn’t think anyone would ever be interested in buying it. The man had put it on the display floor half-heartedly to hold the measuring instruments together in one place with it.

Once outside with the unwieldy cauldron, Molly heaved it to a nearby bench and focused her wand on the thick sludge at the bottom where it began to sizzle and melt away, within a few minutes the sludge was gone. The cauldron wasn’t shiny and new, but Ginny could see that now it could easily be cleaned and polished.

“What did you do to it?” asked Ginny.

“Remember what I always say about knowing how to do things the Muggle way, then doing magic,” asked her mother with a smile, “well most wizards would try to just vanish that stuff away, except you can’t just vanish some magic away, you have kind of to neutralize it first.”

Lost already Ginny tried to pay attention to what her mother was telling her. “You see, that was a bit of magical potion gone wrong stuck to the bottom there, and the residual magic was helping to bond it to the surface. Only a true potions master can vanish away a mess like that. So I had to imagine it loosening like how food comes off of soaking dishes and use a scraping spell, then as the bits came away I vanished those pieces little by little until it was gone.” Excited at her own success Molly continued, “Now that it’s gone, it can be cleaned properly and once it is the old spells like feather lightness should return. A safety you see, because a cauldron with anything in it should not float away… and if they don’t come back, well, your father does know someone who can fix that.”

Ginny was still puzzled, “Why couldn’t the shopkeeper just do that though?”

Molly paused before answering, indicating Ginny had again asked a question with a complicated answer, “You’d be surprised how many witches and wizards expect their magic to just work, and don’t try to improve upon anything they’ve learned. Especially for something as mundane as cleaning, they suppose if you can’t clean something with a simple spell then it is damaged beyond repair.”

“Like, Ron?” asked Ginny, remembering her brother’s unwillingness to ever do more than necessary with his lessons.

“Yes, exactly like your brother, Ron,” laughed her mother.

Molly put a temporary feather light spell on the cauldron and Ginny dragged it along behind her like she’d seen Muggle children do with balloons in her village. It didn’t levitate very high though, it stayed right about waist level.

After the junk shop Molly took Ginny to a second hand book shop and bought decent copies of all of her school books with the exception of Lockhart’s. Those went into the cauldron which dropped down ever so slightly with the added weight of the books, once inside the cauldron the books also became feather light. Then they popped into Scibbulus’s Writing Instruments to buy ink, parchment, quills, and envelops for writing home and doing homework. These Ginny got new as they weren’t that expensive.

Next door to that was Quality Quidditch Supplies, where Ginny could just make out a small sign that read, “COMING SOON: NIMBUS 2001.” Before she could read the description her mum pulled her along to their next stop.

At Wiseacres Wizarding Equipment they found a decent set of scales marked down which someone had returned because the customer thought they were gold colored brass scales, not brass colored brass scales. The witch had realized her mistake after using it once at home. Ginny studied a pair of gold colored scales and didn’t see that much of a color difference, but it must’ve been enough to not match the rest of the witch’s potion making instruments.

“You said that they still work absolutely fine though?” Molly asked.

“Yes,” said the shopkeeper. “The lady who brought them back said they worked perfectly and that she tried to overlook the mismatched colors but decided to get the gold colored ones anyway.”

“Like these ones?” Ginny pointed at a comparably priced set, only slightly more expensive than the brass colored ones.

“The very same,” said the man, nodding.

“That’s kind of ridiculous, spending more money buying something just because it will match the rest of your stuff,” Ginny remarked. “Isn’t it just going to stay hidden away in their potions chamber at home anyway where almost nobody will see it?”

“GINNY!” said her mother, giving her that look that said Ginny had been impolite.

“It’s quite alright,” said the shopkeeper chuckling, “you get all sorts of customers really. Some are less about form and function than they are about appearances.”

“What do you mean ‘form and function’?” asked Ginny, before her mum could shush her.

“Well, you see, the scales you’re purchasing are a student model. You’ll need a set with a vastly greater acuity for anything more advanced than OWL level potions. But of course, Hogwarts provides those for the few students who do reach NEWT levels. The gold colored ones, which are made of brass and are simply gold colored, are also just basic student models,” replied the man behind the counter.

He must have noticed Ginny’s still puzzled expression because he went on, “meaning that those scales will probably never be used to make anything overly complicated, if they are used at all. They will probably sit, as you said, just hidden away looking pretty all lined up with their matching instruments.”

Ginny couldn’t imagine wasting gold that way, and thanked the shopkeeper like her mother did when he finished packaging up her slightly used merchandise. Into her cauldron it went with the books and onto Slug and Jiggers Apothecary to get her potions ingredients that she would be using her new scales for. While they were there they picked up a brand new set of glass phials for Ginny to use as well.

“Nobody ever thinks to buy miscellaneous potions equipment at the Apothecary,” said Molly, “but I found out years ago that they sell their phials much more reasonably priced than Wiseacres or Potages. Now, what’s left?”

“Um,” Ginny looked at her list, “Lockhart’s books, robes, a telescope, and… a wand.”

“Well, your father confiscated a telescope a few weeks ago from someone during one of his raids who enchanted it to find, well never mind what he enchanted it to find, the point is he no longer wants it now that it’s no longer enchanted. Arthur told me just this morning that he has to put it on a new tripod but that he did get permission to take it out of custody for you to have it. From what he says, it’s very high quality,” said Molly. “So let’s head over to the second hand robe shop, I’m sure tons of witches drop off their old school robes when they no longer fit.” Excited about her high quality telescope surprise, Ginny happily let herself be led away.

There, she stood in a changing room trying on many robes as fast as she could. Her mum kept bringing her more of various sizes too big so that they could alter them later at home. Finally, when she had three full sets and a cloak with silver fastenings all of which Molly was confident she could tailor for Ginny, they rushed over to Flourish and Blotts where they had agreed to meet the other kids.

It was only a quarter to noon but Molly wanted to get a good place in line to see Gilderoy Lockhart when he showed up. Ginny’s mum had brought Lockhart’s book Magical Me that she had previously bought while the boys were still in school last year. So at least her mum didn’t have to fret over buying that to experience seeing him in person.

By the time they arrived at Flourish and Blotts, there was already a line forming up inside, and Molly and Ginny jumped in to save a place for all the rest of the Weasleys when they showed up. Eventually, Arthur and Hermione’s parents came back from the Leaky Cauldron where Ginny was sure her father had been asking all sorts of questions about Muggles. Percy and the twins showed up a few minutes after them, and by then Gilderoy Lockhart had begun his signing.

Ginny looked behind her to see where Ron, Harry, and Hermione were and saw how the line had started to go out the front door and people were jostling around outside trying to get in. The trio appeared through the window and pushed their way inside and then slipped past everyone to stand in line with the rest of the Weasleys.

Ron was immediately trampled by the rude photographer who had been shoving people out of his way to get perfect shots of Gilderoy Lockhart for the Daily Prophet. Lockhart must have had the ears of a bat, for when Ron muttered his criticism to the photographer Lockhart glanced his way and saw Harry Potter standing right next to him. “It can’t be Harry Potter?”⁷

Gilderoy Lockhart grabbed Harry and yanked him up front next to himself. The photographer had a field day shoving people aside and getting shots from different perspectives, all the while Harry’s face began to turn red with embarrassment. Ginny had never seen Harry embarrassed before, it had never occurred to her that someone as famous as he was wouldn’t like being in the center of attention.

She watched as Lockhart forced Harry to stand next to him even after he let go of his hand and the photographer had finished taking pictures of them meeting. The longer Harry looked uncomfortable up there next to Lockhart, the angrier Ginny became on his behalf. Polite as ever, Harry let Lockhart parade him in front of everyone until Lockhart broke the news that he would be the next Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts this year.

Upon hearing this Ginny was no longer angry at Lockhart on Harry’s behalf, now she hated him all on his own. This was the self-absorbed git who assigned every Hogwarts student to buy his books as text books. This was the slimeball who made Ginny’s parents fret about being able to afford to send their kids to school this year. This professor was so dirty, the first thing he did in his new job was find a way to make himself that much richer and more famous.

It was the first time Ginny felt the longing that her twin brothers must feel all the time. The longing to rebel against an injustice. She didn’t know the first thing about making life hard for anyone, but she would do her best to make up for every promise her mother was forced to break because one man didn’t know how to play fair.

Ginny didn’t have time to think about Lockhart at the moment though, Harry Potter was walking right towards her. “You have these,” Harry mumbled to her, tipping the books into the cauldron. “I’ll buy my own –”

“Bet you loved that, didn’t you, Potter?” said a voice Harry had no trouble recognizing,⁸ but Ginny had never heard before. Harry looked up from her cauldron and right into the face of a pale haired boy whose eyes showed a hatred Ginny had never seen emanate from anyone, but based on what she heard from Ron, Harry, and the twins had to say about him, could only be Draco Malfoy.

“Famous Harry Potter,” said Malfoy. “Can’t even go into a bookshop without making the front page.”

“Leave him alone, he didn’t want all that!” said Ginny. It was the first time she had spoken in front of Harry. She was glaring at Malfoy.

“Potter, you’ve got yourself a girlfriend!” drawled Malfoy. Ginny went scarlet as Ron and Hermione fought their way over, both clutching stacks of Lockhart’s books.

“Oh, it’s you,” said Ron, looking at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe. “Bet you’re surprised to see Harry here, eh?”

“Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley,” retorted Malfoy. “I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those.”

Ron went as red as Ginny.⁹

Ginny watched as Harry and Hermione held Ron back before he could start a fist fight with Draco Malfoy. They didn’t have to hold him back for long though, both Draco’s father, Lucius Malfoy, and Arthur Weasley showed up to get in the middle of the argument.

To Ginny’s bewilderment, Lucius Malfoy began egging on her father just as his son had her brother. She watched as this stranger yanked one of her second hand books out her cauldron and brandished it in front of her father like he was a failure to all wizard kind. Lucius Malfoy began to tell her father precisely what he thought about them hanging out with Hermione’s family when all of a sudden Ginny’s cauldron tipped over and the contents spilled out.

Her father had rushed past her and started a fist fight with Lucius, in the middle of a bookshop, in Diagon Alley. Some of her brothers cheered him on, while Molly began shrieking for Arthur to stop and one of the store assistants tried to break them up. Ginny could only stare, until Hagrid came up and picked both of them up and set them apart from each other.

Lucius Malfoy slammed Ginny’s book back into her cauldron and said, “Here, girl – take your book – it’s the best your father can give you –” Pulling himself from Hagrid’s grip he beckoned Draco and swept from the shop.¹⁰

Molly began helping Ginny put all of her things back into her cauldron that had spilled out, she picked up her second hand books but paused when she got to the new ones, “Where did these Lockhart books come from?”

“Harry gave me the ones that Gilderoy Lockhart gave him for free on stage, he said he would buy his own,” Ginny replied to her mother while she gathered up packages of potions ingredients and rolls of parchment.

“He did?” asked her mother.

Ginny nodded, “I don’t think he liked being up there with Lockhart, forced to get his picture taken, and not being able to move until Lockhart was done talking,” she said huffily.

“Now who wouldn’t want to have their picture taken with Gilderoy Lockhart?” asked her mum.

Ginny rolled her eyes and sighed, but Hagrid seemed to be finished talking to her father and so her mother took the opportunity to scold him for brawling in public while everyone trekked back to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry and her brothers and father prepared to travel by Floo powder back to the Burrow, and everyone said good-bye to Hermione and her parents before they left for Muggle London. The Grangers seemed a bit upset from the fight at Flourish and Blotts, but Hermione was assuring them that this was not a normal wizard interaction.

Molly sent the boys home one by one and Arthur took Ginny’s new purchases. When she was alone with her mother in the Leaky Cauldron her mum turned to her, beamed, and said, “Well, I suppose we better get you a wand before we head home.”

“Really?” Ginny squealed, and then promptly clapped a hand over her mouth because she was in public and didn’t want to attract any more attention than her family already had.

“Since Harry was kind enough to give you those books that he did not need for free, that left over enough gold to get you your very own wand,” said her mother appreciatively.

“I didn’t know Lockhart’s books were that expensive,” said Ginny, feeling annoyed all over again.

“Well, not quite, and it really depends on what your wand will be made of and how rare the wood or core is, they normally cost right around seven Galleons apiece,” her mum answered, “but since we didn’t have to get the books and combined with what we have left over saved from getting your cauldron so reduced we should be able to buy you a wand from Olivanders.”

Ginny couldn’t believe her mum’s attitude change, minutes ago she was admonishing her dad, now she seemed as giddy as Ginny felt about going through one of her first milestones to becoming a fully qualified witch.

They quickly made their way back down Diagon Alley, and stopped in front of Olivanders. Inside was a boy, who must’ve been Ginny’s age but wasn’t much bigger than herself, trying different wands. With him was a man and an even smaller boy, who had a camera hanging around his neck. Ginny’s mum poked her head inside and Mr. Olivander beckoned them in, he showed them to a small waiting area and went back to his first customer. Ginny listened interestedly to what was going on inside.

“Now, how many ‘Galleons’ did you say I should be considering here?” asked the man kindly.

“I tell you what, since this is your family’s first time, I won’t have you pay absolutely no more than seven, no matter which wand chooses the boy,” said Mr. Olivander in his slow and whispery voice.

“Well, Dennis, can you stay here with Colin while I go and get them then?” said the man to the smaller boy. Turning back to Mr. Olivander he explained, “I had no idea how much to start out with so we’ve just been taking it as we go along.” He seemed to be the boys’ father.

Mr. Olivander shooed him away to Gringotts while he continued to pick wands for the older one, Colin, to try. Finally, while the father was still away, Colin took a wand from Mr. Olivander and his eyes lit up. Very excited he waved the wand and red and gold sparks whooshed out the end of it.

“Very good! Yes indeed, that’s the one!” said Mr. Olivander, very exuberant that they had found a match.

“Dennis,” said Colin getting his little brother’s attention from Mr. Olivander, “Dennis, get the camera ready like I showed you Dennis, and take a picture of me waving my new wand!”

Little Dennis brought the camera to his eye and focused it then he pointed at Colin with his hand that wasn’t going to click the camera button. Colin waved his new wand again until the sparks came out and Dennis snapped a picture.

“I can’t wait to see what it looks like!” exclaimed Colin.

“Ok, boys,” said Mr. Olivander. “I’m going to put you into the waiting room while I wait on young Miss Weasley now and we wait for your father to return,” he made to usher the boys to the seats that Ginny and her mum had just stood up from and then he turned to magically send all the boxes of wands he tried with Colin back to their places on the shelves.

Colin and Dennis watched starry eyed as the boxes picked themselves up, sorted back to their rightful places, and softly set themselves back down in neat and orderly stacks. “I can take a picture of you with your new wand, when one chooses you if you like,” said Colin to Ginny.

Molly smiled at Colin, “Are you starting at Hogwarts this year, dear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Colin, glancing up at Molly.

“So is Ginny,” said her mum nodding in her direction.

“I can take the picture now, and give it to you at school when I see you after I develop it,” said Colin politely. “I’m going to develop these straightaway, I want to remember everything about my first trip to Diagon Alley, huh Dennis?” Dennis nodded, his eyes the size of saucers.

Charmed by little Dennis’s innocent wonder, Ginny agreed, “Ok, sure.”

“This way Miss Ginevra,” said Mr. Olivander, bringing out a tape measure.

Delighted, the boys sat down to wait for their dad to return to pay for Colin’s wand and to watch Ginny get measured for her turn. Ron didn’t go to Olivanders last year, as Charlie gave him his old wand and Ginny was only eight when the twins got theirs but she had stayed home with her father and Ron that year. (Mum wouldn’t let the twins out of her sight yet at the time and together they were a handful). So while Mr. Olivander was looking through boxes to bring Ginny she asked her mother, “Mum, how does Mr. Olivander know my name?”

Molly chuckled, “Mr. Olivander has been selling wands to everyone in the Weasley and Prewett family for generations now, Ginny. He’s probably been expecting you.” Her mum left it at that.

Mr. Olivander returned with a very short wand, seeing Ginny eye its length, he began with that, “Seven inches, a beautiful Maple, phoenix feather. Give it a try.” Ginny saw her mum’s eyeballs bulge, maple wands were rare and very expensive.

Ginny began to wave it and handed it right back, it was nearly as wobbly as the switches her mum had her practice with. Molly sighed in mock relief making Ginny giggle. Mr. Olivander brought out another wand, “Blackthorn and dragon heartstring, 10¼ inches, swishy. A warrior’s wand.” Again, Ginny handed it back. “No?” said Mr. Olivander looking genuinely puzzled that the warrior wand didn’t choose her.

Ginny tried another, fir and phoenix feather, stiff, but not stiff enough, she shook her head and handed it back to Mr. Olivander. The next one was cherry, unicorn hair, thirteen inches, but again handed it back to Mr. Olivander who cried, “We’re getting closer!”

Mr. Olivander brought out more and more wands for Ginny to try, they made a much bigger pile than Colin had. She tried to figure out the pattern he was using to determine what sort of wand he would bring her next but she didn’t know enough about wand woods to guess, she was at least pleased that Mr. Olivander seemed to figure out that she preferred a wand that wasn’t whippy. Colin and Dennis’s father returned and when he noticed that Mr. Olivander was already in the throes of helping another customer sat to patiently wait and watch with his sons.

Mr. Olivander came out from the back muttering to himself, Ginny caught the words “gentle lady” and “warrior heart” a fair few times before hearing him say, “Aha! Curious combination but it could work, in the right hands, it could work.”

Mr. Olivander brought out a box and opened it, this time letting Ginny take it out herself instead of handing it to her. The wand felt warm and alive in her hand and it was the same exhilarating feeling you get during your first breath of fresh orchard air after spending hours in a dank basement. Ginny raised the wand and brought it slashing down to one side and a stream of red and gold sparks emitted. There was a flash and Colin lowered his camera, “I just knew that would be the one as soon as Mr. Olivander brought it out,” he said grinning.

“Miss Weasley,” said Mr. Olivander. Ginny turned to look at him, “I want you to know that I have never sold a rowan wand and the owner later turn into a dark wizard. One needs to be pure of heart to be chosen by a rowan wand.”

“What’s inside it?” asked Ginny.

“Rowan, unicorn hair, 9¼ inches, and… hard,” said Mr. Olivander. “Miss Weasley, you should also know that I expect exceptional magic from this wand. In general the suppleness of a wand can be an indicator of a person’s willingness to change, in your case however I should hope that a pure heart will always prevail. Be that as it may, this is no simple little girl’s wand. A rowan wand is excellent for charm work, and very protective of its master. My dear, I wish to never have to face you in a duel.”

Ginny was a little starry eyed herself after Mr. Olivander told her that little bit about her wand. Colin and Dennis’s dad paid for Colin’s wand and Molly paid for Ginny’s, then Mr. Olivander bowed all five of them out of his shop.

“Are you taking the Hogwarts Express on September first?” Colin asked Ginny once they were in Diagon Alley again.

“Yeah, most everyone does,” said Ginny, still thinking about what Mr. Olivander had said about her wand.

“Ok, I’ll see you then,” said Colin, “and I’ll bring you your picture too.” With that Colin waved goodbye good-naturedly and him and his little brother and his dad went off to explore the rest of Diagon Alley and finish his school shopping.

“Ok,” called Ginny. She’d forgotten about the picture in the wake of hearing the details of her wand. Remembering what Mr. Olivander had said about it being their first wand purchase in the family and that the dad had to go get more Galleons, Ginny asked her mum, “Were they Muggle-borns?”

Molly nodded her head, “Yes, how could they not be? The look of wonder on those boys’ faces when they watched Mr. Olivander do magic, absolutely endearing. Wizard families don’t get to see that with their children. You see magic as babes and it’s just part of ordinary life for you.”

“Is it safe, that he has a picture of me performing magic?” Ginny asked. Cleaning the fireplace was punishment enough, she didn’t want to ever come close to breaking the law again.

Molly smiled and nodded once more, “Even the Muggles in the boy’s family must abide by the International Statute of Secrecy now.”

It felt weird at first, knowing a person she just met would have a picture of her at their house. But she would see him again at school and take classes with him for the next seven years. She imagined many people in that time would have pictures of her at their homes by the end of it, and so she put the matter out of her mind.

Excited to try her wrist movements at home with her brand new wand Ginny and her mum quickly made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron and took the Floo network back to the Burrow.

Quote References:

¹SS/PS Pages 66-67
²CoS Pages 43-44 to make reading the blog chapter seamless, I again neglected to use ellipses, therefore the quote from CoS REPLACES the book for Defense Against the Dark Arts listed in Harry’s first-year letter as I imagine it would have to look for Ginny’s first-year letter.
³SS/PS Page 67
⁴CoS Page 44
⁵CoS Page 45
⁶CoS Page 45
⁷CoS Page 60
⁸CoS Page 61
⁹CoS Page 61
¹⁰CoS Page 63

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